Bean Woman and Corn Man

Anyone who has ever planted a garden knows that you can’t put two plants in the same spot. They’ll compete and choke each other out, with predictably disastrous results. The gardeners of the Tutelo people of the American Southeast noticed a remarkable exception, however. Their storytellers explained it with this tale.

In the days beforemen and women walked upon the earth, the plants and animals all lived in a big village beside a great river. Back then all the animals and the plants walked and talked just as we humans do now.

One bright morning, all the men of the village heard a woman’s voice, singing beautifully:

Who will come and marry me?
Who will marry me?
Let him come and ask if he
Wants to marry me.

Oak Man came with an offer, he would shelter lovely Bean Woman under his mighty arms. While I’m sure his words were touching, they were ultimately pretty well misguided, because—as we previously stated—she needed sunlight, not shade.